As Prison Term Nears, Lawyers for Astor’s Son Fight On

With a scheduled day of surrender to serve a prison sentence bearing down, lawyers for Anthony D. Marshall, the son of the society doyenne Brooke Astor, have unleashed a flurry of legal efforts to keep their aging client out of prison at least a little longer.

Mr. Marshall’s lawyers filed a motion on Friday revisiting an allegation that a juror felt threatened into voting guilty during the 2009 trial in which Mr. Marshall and Francis X. Morrissey Jr., an Astor family lawyer, were convicted of stealing millions of dollars from Mrs. Astor, who died in 2007.

The defense lawyers followed that with another motion on Monday morning contending that Mr. Marshall, 89, had become too frail to go to prison. Both motions sought hearings and additional court filings to determine if the convictions or sentences should be overturned. During a hearing in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Monday, defense lawyers encouraged the judge to take his time in deciding the issues they had raised.

But Elizabeth Loewy, an assistant district attorney, said the “frankly disingenuous” efforts simply rehashed arguments that had already been rejected by the courts.

“If you allow this to happen, who knows what the defendants will come up with next?” Ms. Loewy said. “We have to stop these last-minute written filings that they do because they can afford to, frankly.”

With their appeals exhausted earlier this month, Mr. Marshall and Mr. Morrissey had been scheduled to surrender on Monday and begin serving their sentences of one to three years.

Mr. Marshall received a brief reprieve because correction officials asked for a few days to review the hundreds of pages of medical records his lawyer turned over last week. He did not appear in court on Monday. Mr. Morrissey appeared but was allowed to go home.

Both men are due back in court on Thursday and could be taken into custody then.

Defense lawyers said the motions presented a different situation from when the same claims were rejected earlier.

Barry B. Bohrer, a defense lawyer, reminded Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr. that in rejecting the appeal based on the claims of a juror, Judi DeMarco, that she had been coerced into voting guilty, Justice Bartley had noted that Ms. DeMarco had not submitted a sworn affidavit.

“This is not a rehash, Your Honor,” Mr. Bohrer said in court.

Justice Bartley said he would rule Thursday on whether there would be further hearings related to the DeMarco affidavit.

He denied the other motion.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Prison Near, Lawyers of Astor’s Son Fight On. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe